In this issue:
1. Lyrita - Signature Series - New CD Box sets and singles 2. Lyrita - Signature Series - New editions of scores 3. Music for Brass - Celebration concert in Whitworth, Lancashire 4. Iernin - A Cornish opera - 2 Podcasts and 2 video playlists 5. Iernin - Transcript - Chris de Souza interviews George Lloyd 6. Selected Reviews and analysis 7....and finally - Eleanor Lloyd at the Olivier Awards 2024
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The programme of new releases in the George Lloyd Signature Edition from Lyrita is gathering pace, so we have plenty of material for this Newsletter. This month we bring news of three more CD box sets, several ‘singles’ available for streaming, and another batch of orchestral scores.
In other news we have focussed on Lloyd’s opera ‘Iernin’ with two new video playlists and podcasts, and a transcript of a long interview with the composer about the origin of the opera. There is news of a celebratory concert, a roundup of notable reviews and finally a curious piece of synchronicity.
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1. Lyrita - new box sets | in The George Lloyd Signature Edition.
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CD Box Set:
Symphonies No 7 - 10
Now available direct from Lyrita, Price CD £19.98. MP3 £7.49
or with a 10% discount from Presto Music. Also available for download from
Amazon, Spotify, Apple, and iTunes. |
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| May Release: 2 CD set of choral works
A Symphonic Mass, A Litany now available for pre-order.
"On my left, an elderly man in tweeds shouted "a masterpiece" and sprang to his feet. On my right a Scots lass exclaimed "I'll certainly be buying a CD of that". Not often does new music have this effect. Respectful tolerance is common, but monster raving loony ecstasy? This can only mean one thing - a George Lloyd World Premiere’. The Times, writing of 'Symphonic Mass' CD set reviewed here by the British Music Society
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| Singles from forthcoming releases are now available for download (gratis) | |
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In Preparation - CD Box Set. (May release) The Piano Concertos
"Lloyd has an ability matched by no one else writing music today to immediately and directly touch the heart, and this concerto is an
example of that ability at its finest... "
Henry Fogel, Fanfare
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| 2. New scores now available...for sale and hire |
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There are now 32 scores available in the George Lloyd Signature series,
including study scores for sale, and full sets of performance material for hire.
These include Symphonies No.1 - No.12, Charade, John Socman Overture, The Serf Suite No. 1 and The Serf Suite No. 2
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| 3. Brass Band Concert 12th May, Whitworth, Lancashire |
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| The George Lloyd Society
invites you to a Concert & Reception
on Sunday 12th May
to celebrate the achievement of
The Whitworth Vale and Healey
Brass Band Section II National Brass Band Champions 2023 The concert will include two of George Lloyd's five Test Pieces for National Brass Band Championships. (Royal Parks, Diversions on a Bass Theme, English Heritage, Evening Song and Kings Messenger.)
The Lloyd family have had strong associations with the Whitworth valley for over 200 years, since George Lloyd FRS (the composer's great-great-great-grandfather) first purchased farmland there in the 18th century. The composer's brother farmed there from 1949. |
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3.00 pm Concert The Ashcroft, Whitworth Civic Hall, OL12 8DP 5.15 pm Reception & refreshments
Band Club, OL12 8QW Tickets £8.00 Call 01706 852613 |
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| 4. Iernin - a Cornish opera |
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This month we focus on Iernin,(pronounced Ee-er-nin) the opera which made George Lloyd's name. We have produced two new video playlists, with previously unpublished photographs from the first production in Penzance (1934) and at the Lyceum in the West End of London, (1935), with audio from the studio revivival of 1994.
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| George Lloyd Society - Podcast The Melodic Line - No 3 'Sons of the Western Afterglow'
A discussion about the influence of George Lloyd's unconventional childhood on his aesthetics, and on his preference for traditional techniques of melody, harmony and counterpoint. Presenter and musicologist Peter Davison in conversation with William Lloyd, the composer's nephew, business manager and curator of the George Lloyd archive. |
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George Lloyd Society - Podcast The Melodic Line - No 4 The origins of Iernin The myths and landscapes of Cornwall, and the circumstances of the opera's production in Penzance (Cornwall) and subsequent transfer to London's West End. Presenter and musicologist Peter Davison in conversation with William Lloyd, the composer's nephew, producer and curator of the Society archive. | |
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| 5. Iernin - Biographical interview |
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| In this complete and illustrated transcript of a long-form interview with BBC producer Chris De Souza, George Lloyd looks back at the peaks and troughs of his eventful life, and reveals fascinating detail of his childhood, the origins and characteristics of his music and the polarised public perception of his work. (An edited audio version of this interview was published with the 3 CD set of Iernin, and featured in last month's Newsletter.)
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6. Selected reviews and analysis(Click the blue buttons to view online.)
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“Lloyd’s music is direct even when elusive, commanding even when equivocal, and is strongly lyrical – some of his lyricism is simply unforgettable. It is also richly, ripely and colourfully orchestrated." Jonathan Woolf |
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"George Lloyd’s Symphony No. 7 shows what makes this composer great. It is an uncompromising masterpiece that explores mystery, joyfulness, love, poetry, darkness, and intensity. The drama unfolds naturally with Lloyd’s characteristic craftsmanship and orchestrational flair. All of Lloyd’s Symphonies have beautiful themes, lyricism, charm, drama but few have such a range of mood as this one. The core of Lloyd’s output are his symphonies and as exemplified here, his is one of the great symphonic outputs of the 20th century." A musical analysis by Karim Elmahmoudi |
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Here is some really good news - the George Lloyd Symphonies are back! David Hurwitz welcomes the re-release of the complete symphonic cycle on his popular YouTube channel. |
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Where does the music come from? Involuntary composition and the subconscious.
George Lloyd was taught by his father at an early age that there were two kinds of music composition: 'felt' music and 'concocted' music. The former was more likely to find public favour, but it could not easily be written to order. Although he rejected the prevailing intellectual orthodoxy, Lloyd was, in the words of Lewis Foreman 'a true naif - he was no fool.' He recognised that composition required intellectual effort matched with rigid discipline and rigorous technical knowledge, but he relied on his subconscious to provide the melodic and harmonic foundations of his work.
That method has a long and impressive pedigree. Brahms, Mozart, Schumann, Puccini, Strauss, Mahler, Yeats and Tennyson all acknowledged that the music came through them in some way, as if 'from another place.' Among popular music writers, Jim Morrison, Little Richard, John Lennon and George Harrison, Keith Richard and The Rolling Stones, Billy Joel and Sting all experienced transcendent states when they composed.
In this brief review, William Lloyd analyses George Lloyd's mysticism in this context. (Illustrated PDF download)
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7. and finally......keeping it in the family. |
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We are proud to share this moment: Eleanor Lloyd is George Lloyd's great-niece, (and incidentally my daughter,) and President of the Society of London Theatres (SOLT) organisers of the annual Olivier Awards,
for the last three years.
Eleanor Lloyd Productions has won a total of four Olivier Awards, with three further Nominations.
Eleanor delighted the audience with her 'retiring' speech at the
Olivier Awards in the Royal Albert Hall this year. |
|  Eleanor Lloyd, Olivier Awards 2024
|  Eleanor Lloyd, Olivier Awards 2023 |
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This event reveals a curious coincidence. One of Eleanor's predecessors as President of SOLT paved the way for the performance of her great-uncle George's opera 'Iernin' back in 1935 at the Lyceum Theatre. We know this because we recently found in the archives the very document which licensed the performance.... |
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In the words of Leonardo da Vinci: (giving advice on the development of a complete mind ) "Study the science of art. Study the art of science. Realise that everything connects to everything else.”
#TheatreLegacy #OlivierAwards #SOLTPresident |
| ...and that wraps it up for April. |
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Thanks for reading so far. We plan to copy these news items to our social media networks, so please 'like' and share our posts if you come across them.
Summer is round the corner... with all best wishes, |
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New: Instagram Taking a lead from Lyrita, we have opened an Instagram account, where you will find several short videos and reels,
with audio and pictures, in support of their new releases. |
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|  Instagram |
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